Twenty-two fall ill at Coronado church

CORONADO -- Twenty-two people, most of them schoolchildren, were
hospitalized Friday after they fell ill at a Catholic church near
San Diego and were checked for carbon monoxide poisoning.

Officials said they initially suspected the colorless, odorless
gas caused two children to faint and several other people to become
nauseous and dizzy during a school Mass at Sacred Heart Catholic
Church.

Seventeen children and five adults were taken to hospitals and
released after tests found no elevated carbon monoxide levels or
any other toxic substance in their bodies, said UCSD Medical Center
spokeswoman Kim Edwards.

Hazmat teams and a San Diego Gas & Electric crew looked for
a source of carbon monoxide or a furnace leak but couldn't find any
evidence of airborne contaminants, said Coronado Fire Division
Chief Ed Hadfield.